While Ukrainian Troops Blow Up Russia's Tanks, Russian Infantry Keep Sneaking Past

Infiltration tactics destabilize Pokrovsk's defenses

The Russian military is losing a lot of tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy equipment as it pivots back to mechanized assaults following a long break. Analyst Andrew Perpetua wrote that he’s tallied the destruction of “over 200 pieces of equipment per day” in recent days. Most of it Russian, apparently.

It amounts to “a small army worth of equipment being destroyed,” according to analyst Jakub Janovsky.

But while Ukrainian forces turn Russia’s carefully stockpiled armor into scrap, Russian infantry continue to slip into the most important front-line cities without the support of heavy armor.

If Pokrovsk, the most important and vulnerable of these urban strongholds, falls in the coming weeks, it may be the infiltrations—not the tank-led mech assaults—that render the city indefensible for Ukraine.